02 February 2010

you will spend the afternoon making paper fortune cookies.

as fiercely as i hanker for some krabby patty valentines, these fortune cookies are even better. or, well, almost as good. honesty is the best policy.

this year i'm making some for the kiddos, plus helping my third grader craft a whole batch for his class. (how serendipitous is it when your kid inherits your yen for paper crafting? very, i say. so very very.)

paper fortune cookies are charming and simple and can even hold a bit of customized humor as well. in other words, the perfect stand-in for a cardboard valentine.

and grab your glue guns; i'm feeling a tutorial coming on.

ingredients: scissors, a cd, pen, white paper, other paper, and either double-sided tape or a hot glue gun.

1. first, write up your fortunes and lucky numbers.

in the photo above, the first is for one of my children, the second an example for when the recipient is a classmate. if you're crafting for a child's class, i'd recommend printing them from your computer (and remember to add 'from' and your child's name).

sidenote: here's a sprinkling of my favorite fortunes:The love of your life is a small, bespectacled man named Rajiv. The answers you seek are in Norway.A closed mouth gathers no feet.

but moving along.

2. on the back of your decorative paper, trace the cd to form a large circle.

3. cut that baby out.

4. pinch the circle in half, creasing just the center.

i personally like to pinch the wrong sides together (above), even though it's counter-intuitive in light of the next step. somehow it works out better for me. but you may want to pinch it inside out, like so:

5. depending on your pinching preference, you'll end up with one of the following:

see the x's i added via the magic that is photoshop? we'll be joining those spots together, so place a piece of double-sided tape or a dot of hot glue on one of those guys.

6. press together.

7. so. every tutorial has a tricky part. this here is it.

gently fold the paper in half along the pinch-crease you formed in step whatever-that-was-up-there. four. in step four.

8. release and ADD IN YOUR FORTUNE. trust me: you will be very sad indeed if you glue this little guy together and then realize that you left out the fortune part of the fortune cookie. not that i would know this from experience.

after ADDING IN YOUR FORTUNE (did you add in your fortune? please do it now), dab a bit of hot glue or tape near the crease and press the sides together again.

9. voila.

insider tip: these cookies look fantastic in any paper, so no need to go out and buy schmancy scrapbooking paper. above, we have pages from pretty magazines and an old novel, a paper bag, and notebook paper. i'd also recommend leftover fabric; that's next up on my list.

anyhoo, that's it. enjoy!

ps ooh! please leave me a zany fortune in the comment section if you feel so inclined.

ooh ooh fun!!! I have to try this!! You should whip some fabric ones up for your Etsy shop...that would be clever! I think you could use a stabilizer right?? I would buy a set :) What a fun thing to have to bring out for V-day with the kiddos!!

"You will be hungry again in one hour.", "There is no mistake so great as that of being always right.", "Marriage lets you annoy one special person for the rest of your life." I googled these and thought these were pretty good. I also liked "You are not illiterate."

Ok, so you saved my project. I am making Martha Steward's felt fortune cookie loaded with kisses for my kids classes as school. Glueing the fronts are going to keep the heavy kisses in. Since they are going to Kindergarten and MDO classes, I figured I would make silly valentines jokes for the 'fortunes'. *my sisters idea.*

Ok, so you saved my project. I am making Martha Steward's felt fortune cookie loaded with kisses for my kids classes as school. Glueing the fronts are going to keep the heavy kisses in. Since they are going to Kindergarten and MDO classes, I figured I would make silly valentines jokes for the 'fortunes'. *my sisters idea.*